Discourse functional units: A re-examination of discourse markers with particular reference to Spanish.

摘要

The issue of the definition of Discourse Markers (DMs hereafter) is still a very controversial one. In this dissertation, this question is newly addressed in the light of a functional perspective. The proposal defended here is to consider these expressions as part of a general discourse framework according to which different categories can be established on the basis of independent principles. A definition of discourse categories is suggested that takes into account functional features primarily rather than structural ones. The particular discourse model adopted is based on the notion of coherence relations, understood as the mechanisms a listener/reader makes use of in order to obtain a coherent interpretation of a piece of discourse (Mann and Thompson, 1988; Sanders et al., 1992; Hobbs, 1990; 1995). Within this framework, a new category of elements, Discourse Functional Units (DFUs hereafter), is proposed. Many of the traditionally considered DMs can be also included in the set of DFUs. However, membership in this category is determined exclusively on the basis of functional criteria. DFUs are identified as those forms whose function is to carry information on the particular coherence relation that holds between two or more propositional units. Therefore, pragmatic operators such as modal particles would not be included in the DFU category. On the other hand, adopting this functional definition also implies that DFUs need not be restricted to pragmatic contexts; that is, a linguistic expression can be a DFU as long as it performs the same function in every context. In accordance with these premises, the main properties of DFUs and the constraints in the interaction between DFUs and particular coherence relations are discussed.;The theoretical model adopted is tested against natural data from natural conversations in Peninsular Spanish. Conclusions on several DFUs in Spanish are presented as part of this general new category. The theoretical implications of the findings of this study and their relevance for a general theory of DFUs are also discussed.